


The pros and cons of have a biology student girlfriend

by Zoya113



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: F/M, Fluff, U can bet I didn’t proofread this, emma has bothering facts p2, the return of me sneaking bio revision info into my fics, vague tw for if you are squeamish of like biology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:22:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26250361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoya113/pseuds/Zoya113
Summary: Emma seems to have a weird biology fact for just about every situation, Paul is just trying to live his life
Relationships: Emma Perkins/ Paul Matthews
Comments: 7
Kudos: 43





	The pros and cons of have a biology student girlfriend

**Author's Note:**

> I’m counting my five seconds of talking abt the vagus nerve as biology revision let me have it

“Morning,” Paul yawned.

“Morning,” Emma yawned back, buttoning up her work blouse. “I’m off early tonight, what do you wanna do for dinner?” She asked. 

“I’ll think about it,” he mumbled, rolling over and pressing his face into the cold side of his pillow. “You’ve been on way more morning shifts this month.” He only realised because he was much more tired than usual himself lately.

“Yeah, you know you’re actually taller in the morning than at night?” She added, stretching. “I swear I can’t reach the top shelf when I’m closing, but I can just get it on openings.”

He rolled back over, sitting up on his elbows. “You’re just saying that, though.” 

She shook her head. “Standing up compresses your spinal discs throughout the day. You shrink like, an inch.” She confirmed, collecting her apron off the hanger. “Look it up, I’m a biologist.”  
———————————————————

“Wow, I thought you weren’t coming for a second,” Emma put down her pitcher when she saw Paul rush in through the door. “Hey, are you okay?”

He held a hand to his heart, panting as he made his way to the counter. “Sorry. I thought I’d be late so I figured I should run,” he tugged at his collar to try and just get a proper breath of fresh air. “I was walking out the door and Melissa caught me.”

“Ooh, work stuff?” She asked, starting to prep his drink before he even had to ask. “Busy.”

“No, just Melissa stuff, I swear she says anything and everything that happens in her head.” He leant up against the counter, dropping a few notes into the tip jar as per usual. 

“Oh wow. Just like fluent aphasia.”

“Huh?” He was still out of breath. 

“People who damage the language areas of their heads sometimes get this thing, wernickes aphasia? And then you just open your mouth and it’s like- word salad. Absolute bullshit.” 

“Mph,” he pulled up a seat at the bar. He must’ve really legged it. ”Anything?”

“Yeah. You should look it up. It’s super strange. Ideally I will never get a brain injury though. I don’t want my thoughts getting out there.” 

Paul clasped his hands in his lap. Neither did he. “Sorry. I’m kinda out of breath. Do you have a cup I can put some water in?” He changed topics. Emma was really going off with her biology facts today. It was kinda cute if not occasionally disturbing. 

“You know your heart can squirt blood like thirty feet when it’s racing that first,” she said, making direct an unnerving eye contact as she handed Paul his coffee before turning right around to go get him some water. 

“Emma.” That was probably his least favourite fact of the day, and he just learnt he’d have to work overtime next week.

“Yes?” She said as she handed him his drink. 

He took a sip to give him time to come up with a complaint, but there wasn’t really anything wrong with what she was saying he was just a little bit squeamish. 

“Ya know when you’re growing up your larynx moves?” She decided to inform him though as he was occupied. 

He spluttered on his drink, holding a hand to his throat. He gave her a startled look. That one hadn’t scared him as much as it caught him by surprise.

“Yes. Exactly. Babies can drink laying on their backs but we can’t or we choke. Apparently you can’t do it sitting up though either,” she snickered, handing him a napkin. “What got you?” 

“Yeah the body changes as you grow,” he confirmed. “I know that, it’s just the way you said it. Like where is it going exactly?” 

“Oh wanna know something else?” She rested her elbows down on the counter so they were face to face. “Bones are mix and match.” 

Damn. He thought she was going to kiss him. “Mix and match?”

“Yeah it’s like you said. The body changes as you develop and some bones between different bodies are different shapes. Because you know babies have 90 more bones than adults, so when they form together sometimes they can be classified differently,” she nodded, blinking at him like this was all very nonchalant and day to day information. “Isn’t human development so messed up? Saw this video of this baby the other day and it couldn’t even lift its neck. Baby needs to start lifting.”

“You should give him your workout routine,” Paul played along with a dumb laugh. He took a sip of his coffee. “That was a good biology fact. The least threatening one of the day,” he made an awkward cheers motion with his cup to accompany his weird chuckle. “The other ones kinda scare me.”

“Oh?” She tilted her head. 

“You have a biology fact for everything,” he told her, trying to play it off as a compliment. “Like, wow Em.”

“Thank you!” She grinned playfully. “Wanna know another?”

“Do I?” He knew that was a forewarning, so he picked up his to go cup. 

“If you ever have surgery on your stomach the surgeons have to tie down your intestines so they stop writhing.” 

“Okay goodbye Emma.”  
———————————————————

“Is that shirt new?” Emma asked, one hand brushing over his shoulder as she walked by to the mirror to pull the bobby pins out of her hair. 

“Oh, uh,” he laughed, smoothing his hands down his pyjama shirt. “Yeah, sort of. I haven’t worn it before but I’ve had it for a while.” 

“Mmm,” she gave a note of approval as she combed her fingers through her hair. “Well it looks really nice!”

His skin grew hot as he turned to face her. “Oh well, hey, thanks,” he offered her a smile.

“Hey you know when you blush your stomach lining blushes too?” She said, almost instantly switching topics. 

They stared at each other.

“How fucked up is that?” She prompted when he hadn’t said anything. 

He hung his head, shaking it as he paced over to his bed to sit down. “You’re very smart,” he told her. “You’ve got a lot of those facts, that’s for sure.”

“Well I sure hope so, I’m gonna be a botanist you know?” She came down to sit on her side of the bed, legs crossed. “Here’s a good plant fact - before doctors invented aspirin people just used to chew on willow trees,” she clicked her tongue, rolling her eyes as if to scorn them for not just having aspirin. “Like, who thought of that in the first place? Also, strawberries are in the same plant family as roses.” 

He did like to see her talk about something she was so passionate about though, he laughed at the light in her eyes. “Strawberries?” Plant facts were more fun than biology facts too. He shuffled in until their knees were touching, watching her eyes. She only tended to make eye contact when she was comfortable and happy, so he took the time to enjoy it. 

He leant in to kiss her forehead just while she was there rambling. 

“Hey,” she chuckled, leaning in a little closer and really looking up at him now. She placed one hand on his neck, rubbing it with her numb. “Wanna know another fucked up fact?” 

He started to freeze as she shifted into his lap. “Okay, sure, yeah?”

She drew her fingers from the back of his neck around to the side, tracing them down to his collar bone. “So there’s this nerve called the vagus nerve that branches off into this something called the recurrent laryngeal nerve.” She was still talking, but he was paying less attention to her words as she drew her fingers down his chest, tracing out the location of the nerve. “And it goes down from the spine to the throat all the way down to the heart,” she held her hands to his chest for a moment before looping back up to where she started. “And it crawls under the aortic arch like that before coming back up, it’s about a whole meter long,” she continued. Then she paused, licking her lips as she waiting for Paul to confirm he was still listening, she was watching him intently.

“Yeah?” He kept his hands resting on her shoulders.

The glint in her eyes and her stupid chaos-causing smile and the slight bounce she had as she rocked back and forth with excitement as she was listing off these facts he would forget five minutes later were all so beautiful, but he truthfully didn’t know at all what she was talking about. 

“Pretty long right? Guess how long it is in a giraffe.” 

“Can I kiss you?” He asked instead

“That was not a guess but absolutely.” She beamed as she grabbed at the collar of his shirt to lean in and kiss him.

His arms wrapped loosely around the small of her back as he pulled her further into his lap and in turn her legs looped around his torso. 

She gave a pleased hum as her hands ran over the fabric of his shirt, tracing her fingers down his spine. 

He shivered, laughing ever so slightly but trying not to break the kiss, tilting her chin up with one hand. 

“Hey, hey,” she meant back suddenly, wiping her lips.

“Huh? Are you okay?” He asked, taking his hands off her. 

“D’you know kissing is really good for dental health?” 

“Emma!” He threw his hands up in defeat, laughing at how ridiculous it all was. He never knew he could hear too many biology facts in one day.

“Sorry,” she snorted. “I only do it because I know it bugs you,” she promised as she pulled the sheets back to settle down. 

He joined her under the sheets, rubbing his eyes. “It’s okay, I’m really tired today anyways,” he gave a guilty laugh. He probably couldn’t have a make out session even if he wanted to. He leant over to turn off the bedside light, letting out a loud sigh. “Did today feel really long to you too?”

“Was everything okay?” She lifted her head to rest it down on Paul’s chest, listening to his heartbeat. 

“Yeah, I just felt like I was racing everywhere. It was pretty busy, that’s all.” He combed a hand through her hair, hoping they could just fall asleep like this. “How was work?”

“Yeah, not shit honestly but so boring,” she shrugged. “So all in all just a pretty lousy day?” 

He nodded. “Yep.”

“Hey Paul?” She drew her finger across his chest, just tracing shapes on his skin.

“Yeah Emma?”

“Do you know the heart can beat itself even unattached from the body?” 

“Okay Emma gooodnight.”


End file.
